House Democrats outline budget, will vote Wednesday on pension reform

Illinois House Democrats on Tuesday outlined a $36.5 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1, but did not offer details of how they'd pay for it.

House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, also said the House will take votes Wednesday on pension reform, workers' compensation changes, property tax relief and government consolidation, all items that Gov. Bruce Rauner and other Republicans have said must be addressed before they’ll consider higher taxes to balance a budget.

However, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said negotiations on those issues are continuing and taking votes on them Wednesday “isn’t healthy for this process.”

Durkin also said that at a leader meeting Tuesday, Madigan set out another new demand that he said had to be met as a condition of settling the budget impasse that is threatening to enter its third fiscal year. This one involves the governor signing a bill that authorizes higher fees to maintain 911 services around the state. Rauner has said the fee increases contained in the bill are too large.

“I want to get this done, but the fact is, getting my caucus into position to provide closure and to provide those votes gets thrown off track every time there’s a new demand made,” Durkin said.

The House Democratic spending proposal falls between the $36 billion budget outlined by Republicans and the $37.3 billion version passed by Senate Democrats but not taken up in the House. It is substantially less than the estimated $39 billion the state is spending now without a budget because of court orders and automatic payments required by law.

“I’m not saying that this is perfect,” Madigan said. “I think it goes a long way toward giving the state of Illinois a real solid spending plan that responds to the real needs of the state.”

Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, said the goal was to take into consideration ideas from the Senate Democrats, as well as Republicans, and “to accommodate requests by the governor.” That meant, he said, living within the $37.3 billion spending limits Rauner had in his budget proposal.

The House Democratic plan calls for a 5 percent cut in state agency operations along with a 5 percent cut to higher education. The Republican plan cut higher education by 10 percent. Harris said there are no new programs in the House Democratic budget.

The plan will also allocate $1.85 billion to fully cover estimated state employee health insurance claims for the upcoming year. Unpaid claims from previous years would be addressed when a decision is made about dealing with a bill backlog surpassing $15 billion.

The House Democrats' plan fully funds pension and debt service payments. K-12 education would get a $350 million increase that would be funneled through a revamped school aid formula that Madigan wants Rauner to sign and that Rauner has said he will veto.

The plan would allocate another $65 million in additional money for school transportation reimbursements.

Harris said the House Democratic budget includes full funding for the Community Care Program that helps seniors stay in their homes and authorizes continued spending on road and other state construction projects that are in danger of shutting down if a budget isn’t approved by Friday.

Harris would not discuss specifics of a tax hike to help balance the budget outside of saying it will “live within the confines of the Senate numbers.” The Senate approved a $5.4 billion tax package, including a 35 percent increase in the personal income tax. Rauner wants that tax hike limited to four years. The Senate plan makes it permanent.

Durkin said House Republican staff is reviewing the Democrats' budget proposal, but “until we see the revenue bill, we cannot determine if it is a balanced budget.”

Harris said work is continuing on a plan to borrow money to pay down the bill backlog, as well as a spending authorization bill to cover expenses from the last half of the fiscal year. A stopgap budget to cover the first half expired Dec. 31.

Madigan said the non-budget bills the House will vote on Wednesday represent “substantial compromise” by Democrats. Durkin, though, said the bills represent only the Democrats’ ideas for how to address pension reform, workers' compensation and other issues.

“To me, that’s not a gesture of good faith,” Durkin said. “We have made concessions. They have to make concessions.”

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